It's my birthday today. My "Jack Benny," as one of my friends referred to it (one of Mr. Benny's running jokes was to claim his age as thirty-nine for his entire career).
Last night my office mates gave me a nice little surprise party after hours, complete with champagne - woo hoo! - and white Zinfandel. For those who don't like champagne. Some of the office staff preferred it. Cake, flowers. I really hadn't expected it, and a lot of people showed up - in fact almost everyone from all four offices here. Seeing all those people wanting to wish me a happy birthday meant a lot, almost took the sting out of this particular birthday.
I spent some time trying to remember what I did last year for my birthday... finally I remembered. It was a cold, windy Monday night. We were having Santa Anas,
just like now, but it was much colder. I met two friends at the Formosa Cafe in Hollywood for drinks and dinner. It was quite fun. The Formosa is one of those old Hollywood dive landmarks that's been around for almost seventy years, I think. The original eating area was made out of a boxcar, which is still there as part of the restaurant.
Today is our big annual office Thanksgiving potluck, so I will go to that and have a nice lunch. Tonight is a school board meeting which I have to attend; I'm one of the trustees for the St. James' parish school and we have just finished our search for a new head of school, so I have to be there (oh, the decadence). Then I'm stopping off at a friend's house for a quick drink, and so the day will end. I think this is the best kind of birthday. I usually don't take the day off for my birthday - I work, but it's nice to have these little celebrations scattered throughout an ordinary day.
At least it's not on Thanksgiving this year. I hate that.
posted by Dr. Alice at #
